MTV mayor lets earring go
As a suburbanite who lives mere miles from the Detroit line, I know that my opinion on mayoral issues may not count for much. However, I have to say that we’re all witnessing a diversion from past politics in the city of Detroit. What’s the big difference with the current mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick? Pure guts. Or, true grit, if he was an old white guy.
Simply put, Kilpatrick is a mystery to most status quo politicians. He’s in essence the MTV mayor. Plagued by problems that are better known to party-hound musicians, Kilpatrick blazes a trail that leaves most of his counterparts feeling very uneasy and unsure of what the hell is going on. Kilpatrick’s been shunned by Washington, investigated for wild parties and the murder of a prostitute, hung by the media for his “wife’s” Navigator, and given the good ‘ole boy heave-ho for wearing an earring.
Listening to Kilpatrick speak to WJR’s Paul W. Smith at the Goodfellow’s Tribute Breakfast, it seems as if he’s learned a few things. Having lived through all the personal controversy and frustration of the last four years, maybe he’s grown up. But, more important to the city, Kilpatrick reminds us that things are different in Detroit.
There is an obvious vibrancy running through the hub of Downtown Detroit. GM’s Ren Cen just got a facelift. Nike is running a new ship on Woodward. Compuware is thriving and glimmering at the center of Campus Martius. Thirty-two new restaurants have opened. One thousand units of new housing have been built. What on earth is going on? If this so-called outlaw mayor is bad news, why are we seeing all this progress?
Sure, there’s city budget controversy. There’s speculative office corruption. There’s city council feuding and certain below-average education offered to Detroit’s children. But, is any of that new to this city? Let me take the risk of sounding naïve, but don’t we need to bring Detroit back one step at a time? Without cultivating commerce, we don’t get the rest of the pie. Without steps one, two and three, we don’t get four, five and six.
I personally don’t care if Kilpatrick wears a tribute to his wife in his ear. In fact, I think it’s kind of sweet. But, he has to make the moves that are governed by today’s political playbook. If leaving the earring out keeps him off the tabloid radar, so be it. Let’s focus on the tracks that direct Detroit in a forward motion. Kilpatrick has been a formative steam engine. And, as we know, steam engines get really hot. But, damn, it’s better than sitting in the caboose watching all the other boxcars moving on ahead of you.
posted by tanagrame @ 8:46 PM
3 Comments:
You forgot to mention the fact that TIME magazine (TIME? or Newsweek? I can't remember) named him one of the worst mayors in the country. Yet somehow he still has supporters.
Seriously, Maureen, you need to set it up so that these spam comments can't show up.
You can delete comments.
So I live in Philadelphia where Mayor John Street (also black) was named one of the worst mayors in the U.S. by Time Magazine. I have never liked Street and in his case he's coming in after an insanely popular mayor that turned around this city in the way that your mayor is doing now. Street has been investigated, staff members found guilty and "pay for play" is now in the vocabulary of all Philadelphians.
Anyway even he has his supporters. No matter how bad you are you can always convince someone that the other guy is worse.
It's like the old adage about escaping a shark - you don't have to be the fastest swimmer, you just don't want to be the slowest.
Yep, sometimes it comes down to who's got the better campaign team, who's got more of Daddy's connections, who's got the ability to fanagle election results, who's got the The Devil working for them as chief advisor....
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